Watch J.J. Abrams' "Super 8" Trailer Before He Tells YouTube to Take It Down

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The tubes have been ablaze with talk of the trailer for J.J. Abrams' "Super 8," said to be a tribute to Steven Spielberg's glory days. Now the 90-second clip has been posted on YouTube for all to see -- until Paramount decides otherwise.

And yet, nearly 12 hours after it went up, there it remains. Could it be that studios are getting wise to the power of free advertising? Could they finally be realizing that letting it stay up there generates buzz, while demanding its removal just makes fans grumpy?

Or could it be that Abrams and the studio had a hand in its dissemination? Security is often laughably tight at preview screenings, but the quality of this bootleg is remarkably steady and sharp.

At the end of the day it doesn't really matter. What does matter is that the trailer looks great. In the event that Paramount has a chnage of heart by the time you get to this, the screen reads, "In 1979, the U.S. Air Force closed a section of Area 51," followed by, "All materials were to be transported to a secure facility in Ohio."

Then we see some yahoo in a pick-up spin out on some train tracks, derailing an oncoming locomotive. Amid the wreckage we see an Air Force container on its side, with something trying to pound its way out. Creepy good fun.

Published at 10:19 AM CDT on May 7, 2010 | Updated at 1:44 PM CDT on May 30, 2012